...give all to God..

“4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

Another Account of the Creation

In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 when no shrub of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; 6 but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground— 7 then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; 12 and the gold of that land is good; dellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria.

 And the fourth river is the Euphrates

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.’

18 Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.’ 19 So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,

‘This at last is bone of my bones    and flesh of my flesh;this one shall be called Woman,    for out of Man this one was taken.’

24 Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed” Genesis 2:4-25.

Dear friends, in this second creation story, Adam and Eve were given the role of “serving and preserving” in the garden. What becomes of this mandate when they are cast from the garden? Is there any sense in which this mandate suggests continuing duties in our relationship with God? There are two very different directions we can pursue in this regard. The first concerns a kind of theology of work; the second revolves around the issue of sacred space. Regarding the theology of work, work is a means of attaining benefits for this world — this life — whether material gain or self-fulfillment. Work no longer has a transcendent purpose as a means of serving and loving God. No wonder, then, that many people question the very meaning of work. This offers us a rich opportunity to make the case that work is truly fulfilling only when it is firmly tied to its moral and spiritual moorings. 

Regarding sacred space, we have already seen that the garden was sacred space, for it was there that you can get closer to the presence of God, especially if it is a holy place. Prior to the Fall, God’s presence was Eden, and the garden, adjoining that sacred place, was next in holiness. But God’s presence dwells among people. And so yet it was Adam and Eve’s  mandate to preserve the sacred space in the garden of Eden. To preserve the sacred space, the discipline of obedience and purity had to be maintained by not eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Why Adam and Eve failed one of the great questions of this second creation story. C.S Lewis points out one obstacle is inattention. Another is the wrong kind of attention. A third obstacle is greed. But the mandate of Eden for us all is that we cannot allow any distraction, as noble or worthy or necessary as it may be, to usurp the central role from Christ in our life.  We must go out into the world to extend the garden and expand sacred space. But the cost of purity is high, as Adam and Eve discovered. How many hours on the internet can we spend before the discipline of imagining ourselves in God’s presence slips away? How long before we void remembering the Eternal One sitting next to us? Brother Lawrence challenges us to become wholly God’s, so that we resolve to give ALL to God. 

So take time today in prayer contemplating our own personal care of the garden of life. Pray for the resolve to give All to God.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.